[Stephen]

Nicki Minaj's Feb/Mar 2012 VIBE Cover Story
Source

Her newly minted superstar status—and the scrutiny it brings—may also explain why Nicki herself is extra vigilant with her words. With a promise to return to “Mixtape Nicki” for this set, she refuses to acknowledge any deliberate pop ambitions. And you can feel Minaj rolling her eyes on the other line when asked just how much of Roman Reloaded features the playful rap-sung tunes of her platinum debut, which made her both a crossover rap phenom and fashion’s urban it girl. “When I say ‘Mixtape Nicki,’ it means not censoring myself and not caring what anyone thinks,” she tells VIBE via phone. “That has nothing to do with pop. You can do a pop song that doesn’t censor yourself.”

So far, on the road to Roman Reloaded, she’s dropped two singles—“Stupid Hoe” and “Roman in Moscow”—that showcase her rappity-rap alter ego Roman Zolanski and reawaken her game-of-thrones match with Lil’ Kim. But the 27-year-old MC will tell you quite forcefully, in a way that makes you feel like a queen’s minion, that neither pop nor rap defines her, and that her artistic direction is no longer up for debate. “I refuse to define what I do,” she says. “You’ll feel it. It’s more of an experience than a genre. They’ll have to create a new genre for this. You can’t put it into a genre that’s out now. You absolutely can’t.”

You’ve said before that you didn’t really have fun recording Pink Friday.
I felt like I had something to prove to everyone who said a female rapper could not make an album unless she was talking about her *****. And so I went above and beyond to prove that I could not talk about sex and not talk about my genitalia and still have a successful album. And I proved that. And now my time for proving things to my critics is over. I don’t really need to prove anything to anyone else anymore.

But the major criticism was that the album was too pop, more singing than rapping.
I’m very happy I made that choice.

[Stevie]

Here we go again.

[Shapes]

I stopped at new genre

[Jameson Teqkilla]

This has to be my #1 least favorite thing pop artists say.

[@michael]

Oh God

[ElectricFrancis]

[Navin]

What is she doing

[Capital B]

Nicki, sis...nobody asked you to create a new genre. You're a rapper, so rap.

[katara]

Didn't Gaga say the same about BTW? And how did that turn out?

Please Nicki you are just convincing us that your album will be trash

[Amaru]

A new genre?

[Rico Shameless v2]

You can’t put it into a genre that’s out now. You absolutely can’t.

Was she drinking during the interview?

[Drais.]

Wurq sis....

[Nicole]

So what does she plan on calling this new genre?

[Stevie]

Originally posted by Jameson Teqkilla

This has to be my #1 least favorite thing pop artists say.

Agreed. I mean, why do artists have to hype themselves to the high heavens and then not deliver.
The greatest albums were ones where the artist didn't brag.

Nicki is trying to cross pop with rap/hip-hop. She did it successfully with Super Bass.
I think RR will be better than PF, but the genres won't mesh as well.

[Remixed]

[Haus_of_Will]

I'm sure Metacritic will be colorful in describing the album with one word.

[Sammi]

Lmao

[WoozyFloozy]

Fly closer and closer to the sun, Nicarus.

[primo.]

I want to hear this album right now.

[i spit on haters]

Originally posted by katara

Didn't Gaga say the same about BTW? And how did that turn out?

Please Nicki you are just convincing us that your album will be trash

Receipts? I don't recall her saying anything about creating a new genre. The most egotistical thing she said in the BTW era was giving "the best album of the decade"

Any way. I've stopped taking Nicki serious last year.